Groundwater is the world’s most extracted raw material with withdrawal rates
currently in the estimated range of 982 km3
/year. [1]

About 70% of groundwater withdrawn worldwide is used for agriculture. [2]

Groundwater provides almost half of all drinking water worldwide. [3]

Globally, about 38% of irrigated lands are equipped for irrigation with
groundwater. [4]

The total volume of groundwater in the upper 2 km of the Earth’s continental
crust (not inclusive of high-latitude North America or Asia) is approximately
22.6 million km3
, of which 0.1 million km3
to 5.0 million km3
is less than 50
years old (judged as “modern” or recently recharged). [5]

The volume of modern groundwater is equivalent to a body of water with a
depth of about 3 m spread over the continents. [6]

The 15 nations with the largest estimated annual groundwater extractions (2010) [7] are:

The 15 nations with groundwater having the largest share in total annual freshwater
withdrawals, ranked by all water use sectors [8]